Time Shift
by mgtragoedia
Summary: Judai sees another abandoned child and Divine sees a protector. A series of drabbles between the two, seeking to explain the Zexal/5Ds schism.


**A while back on tumblr, I posted this theory about 5Ds and Zexal being in separate timelines and Judai being a major factor with him being virtually unknown to Yusei and a legend to Yuma. Somehow it turned into a story about Judai and child!Divine. Anyways, I haven't watched 5Ds in a while, so please point out any oocness and continuity errors, please!**

His new sweater was getting all wet. It was _pen-siv_ and running around in the rain would get it all ruined. Or that's what Mom used to say. It made no sense cause she always got it wet when she went to wash clothes.

Maybe, normal rain wasn't enough water. Maybe, he needed lots of buckets of water to make it all clean. If he stood here long enough, would it make him all clean?

* * *

"M'name's Taro" he said, mumbling. His cheeks were flushed, his eyes fixed on the carpet.

"You don't have to be so shy!" Judai Yuki laughed, ruffling the child's hair. It was light fluttery sound which made Taro blush even redder.

"And you don't have to tease the poor boy so much," the other adult said, his tone warm. He held out a hand for the young boy to shake.

Taro shook it, feeling absolutely giddy. He'd seen Edo Phoenix on the TV sometimes, but never imagined meeting him in person. He played heroes like Judai-san did. Was he a hero too?

As if sensing his thoughts, Judai nodded. "Saio is out today, but he and Edo want to help people like us. Teach us how to control our powers, provide a home, the usual stuff."

* * *

"With a name like that, nobody will ever take you seriously. " Judai said, sighing.

"I can understand you wanting to change your name, but Divine? Seriously?"

Taro- no, Divine stood steadfast, completely serious about his decision.

"He's only been living with us for a year and he's already inherited your stubbornness," Yubel mocked.

"Fine," Judai said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "We'll start with the paperwork tomorrow."

* * *

"Happy Birthday!"

Judai teleported into the room with a party hat on his head, a few hastily wrapped packages in his arms, and at least a dozen guns aimed at his chest.

Pegasus J Crawford waved off the guards, and addressed the young man before him.

"Judai-boy! You're -

-late " Yubel finished, turning corporeal, frightening several guards. "Look," she said, pointing to the flat screen on the wall. According to the date, Divine's birthday wasn't today but last week, instead.

A week? He really had to work on his interdimensional travel skills.

Pegasus shook his hand and motioned him to sit. "Divine's asleep right now," he said. "But, why don't you eat something, stay the night, and do something in the morning?"

* * *

"They're called the Ecologues, " Judai said, motioning to the books on the table. "Yubel and I noticed how much you loved the Aeniad, so we thought we'd get you some of Virgil's other stuff."

"I've heard of this," Divine said, stroking the spine of the book reverently. "It's about a place in Greece, where it's all beautiful and peaceful. _**Arcadia**_."

"I'm grateful for you taking me in and all, but weren't you supposed to help me control my powers?"

"Probably"

"Then, let's do it right now! I'm ready-

"You're ready? Okay, then." Judai tossed Divine a card. The text read Card Ejector with a picture of a cute-looking spellcaster monster underneath. "Summon her"

Divine quickly grabbed a duel disk, summoning the monster in attack position. Judai got off the couch, inspecting the monster, then passing his fingers through her hat.

"Try again," he said, flopping back onto the couch.

* * *

"I'm really sorry about this, Asuka." Judai said, looking at the rubble that once was Asuka's dorm.

"It's fine," she said with a sigh. She should have expected this, really.

* * *

"I'm sorry, but we have to go. Stick with Johan for a couple of days. He and the Crystal Beasts should be able to keep you safe. "

Judai hugged the boy, _his boy_.

"Look," he said, entwining their pinky fingers. "I'll be back. It's a promise."

* * *

Time-travel had always interested Judai. His own trips into the past, notwithstanding, the idea of going back and erasing all of his mistakes appealed to him. Sure, he'd accepted what he did and how it was all necessary to get to this point, but that didn't stop him from wishing it never happened.

However, he'd seen what the power over time did to people. Paradox (whom Judai couldn't help but sympathize with) was a man with the best intentions, but caused amount of death and destruction. And this organization he was chasing, this Ylaister, was no doubt way more dangerous than Paradox had ever been.

* * *

"You don't understand! I need to go after him!"

"Fine, just wait here for a minute. We'll go after him together."

And as soon as Johan was out of earshot, Divine grabbed his bag and ran. He knew there was no way he would be allowed near any kind of danger, especially after Johan had _promised _Judai-san.

There was no way he was going to stand back and let Judai-san get hurt. Divine pulled out a card from his deck and concentrated. He couldn't let his powers fail him this time. He closed his eyes and held his card up to the sky.

"I summon Luster Dragon!" He practically shouted.

And it worked. A gentle-looking blue dragon appeared, sitting low enough for Divine to climb on his back. And with a flap of wings, they were off.

* * *

Momentum Works was a relatively new electric company in Domino City. It had limited success, therefore remaining vaguely anonymous and the fact that it was an electric company meant that nobody would be even looking at the power output. In short, it was the perfect hideout.

Judai walked in, making sure to be as quiet as possible.

* * *

Divine wasn't stupid enough to believe that this summon would last long, making a transcontinental flight to Japan was suicide. However, there was an airport a few miles out from Johan's place. Divine had his emergency credit card with him. If he could make it to the airport, everything would be fine.

Duel Academy had taught him to try to resolve everything in a duel. Travelling the world had taught him that not everyone was okay with that option. So, Judai wasn't too surprised when the guard decided to capture him instead of dueling. What did surprise him was his stamina. He'd been running around the building for a good twenty minutes, yet the guard was right on his heels, not even out of breath. Was he even human?

Judai ran into a random room, intent on losing the man, and what he saw made him stop. In the center of the room was a giant circular machine with a giant hole in the middle, flashing a rainbow of colors.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Said a feminine voice a few feet behind him. "I helped with the design, myself. A time machine! Before Ylaister told me about it, I wouldn't have even believed it was possible."

Judai turned, pasting a cocky smile over his face. "Should you really be telling me so much about it? Aren't you afraid what I'll do with this information?"

"You don't need to worry about stuff like that. You're already taken care of, Judai Yuki."

"How did you?!"

"We know it's not possible to completely erase you from the timestream given what you are,"she said, ignoring him. "But, we can guarantee the next best thing."

A flash of lightning appeared in the sky, accompanied by the sound of thunder. And history changed.

* * *

Taro woke up screaming. There was an ache in his chest, but he didn't know why.

"What's wrong Taro?" the matron asked him.

He didn't want to brush off the only person who had been nice to him, but something about the name Taro didn't seem right to him. It was his name, so why did he seem to dislike it so suddenly?

* * *

Everything about Manjoume's high school years seems wrong to him. He knows he shouldn't dwell on such things, he's managed to marry the woman of dreams and have a successful career as a pro, after all. But every time he thinks of his eventful first two years at Duel Academy, he seems to recall that a fellow student duked it out with the crazy supernatural forces, taking them down and saving the world. But try as he might, he can't remember the kid.

He gets similar feelings whenever he runs into Sho Marufuji. Instead of seeing the timid younger brother of the fallen Kaiser, he keeps seeing images of a confident duelist graduating with top marks from Obelisk Blue.

Manjoume's been talking to different psychiatrists about it, but gets the same reply every time. The scans say that there's nothing wrong with him so, a less stressful lifestyle is probably the answer. The same shit they fed him when he started to see duel spirits.

* * *

While control over time is a dangerous power, the Darkness of Creation should not be underestimated as a result. If Ylaister wanted to erase its Herald so badly from time, it would create a separate timeline for them to erase from, keeping him intact in this one.

The presence of a person who did and did not exist made the other timeline unstable as a result, making Momentum twice as successful and twice as destructive. But in this one, lightning flashed but nothing changed.

"Impossible," the scientist said in awe. "There was nothing wrong with the machine, so I can only assume it doesn't work on you."

Judai felt anger, Yubel's anger swelling in the back of his mind, but bit it down and adressed the scientist as pleasantly as he could.

"I think it's about time we met your bosses, don't you think?"

* * *

"Well what happened after that?"

"Well, it calmed down from there. I found out Ylaister's goals and we put a stop to Momentum and Synchros before they even began."

"Did you ever regret it?"

"I regret lots of things. Is that all, Mr. Archlight?"

Byron Archlight stood up from his chair and shook a middle-aged Judai Yuki's hand. It seemed that he didn't have the information that he wanted, either.


End file.
